This invention relates to animal confinement, generally, and more particularly, to an apparatus for confining cows to stalls during milking.
"Herringbone" stalls, in which cows are arranged side-by-side along a line diagonal to their length, are popular because of the high densities they achieve, and improved traffic flow, since cows do not have to make right angle turns in them. In a herringbone parlor, a number of cows are driven into a multi-cow stall confined on one side by a horizontal brisket barrier, and on the other side by a series of butt plates each arranged at an angle to the length of the stall. Each cow, when properly loaded in the stall, has its head over the brisket barrier, and its tail against one of the butt plates. The cows are released simultaneously by lifting the brisket barrier. Most often, a dairy is provided with a series of alternating geometrically similar (mirror-image) stalls; hence the name herringbone.
From the standpoint of injury potential, stall loading is critical, and in fact herringbone stalls are prone to traffic jams. Cows do not always enter herringbone stalls in orderly fashion. As they enter the stall, cows sometimes become excited, confused, or ornery, and rather than waiting in line, they may attempt to push ahead. When one cow attempts to pass another within the narrow stall, the cow pressed against the butt barrier may suffer injury to its hip from contact with a protruding vertical edge of a butt plate. The most vulnerable point is the widest point of the hip, which is commonly referred to as the "pin" or "hook" bone. To prevent such injury, prior inventors have rounded the edges of protruding butt plates substantially; the edges still protrude, however, and the "pin" bone on the hip remains susceptible to injury. Thus invention is directed to reducing the pin bone injuries that result to cows from pushing and shoving within a herringbone stall.